LUCY IN THE SKY…
If the title brought to your mind The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," you're on the right track—there's indeed a connection! NASA named its latest mission LUCY after the fossilised skeleton of a human ancestor, which itself was named in homage to the iconic Beatles song. While the Beatles had a different Lucy in mind, NASA's LUCY is on a significant mission to explore diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The reason NASA chose the name "LUCY" for its mission partly because of the famous fossilized human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 providing insights into human evolution.
NASA's LUCY aims to uncover clues about the early evolution of our solar system
(Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
LUCY’s mission is also unique because of the type of Asteroids it is studying - The Trojans.
No, we're not talking about the warriors from Greek mythology (though the name does come from there). The Trojan asteroids are two swarms of rocky bodies that share Jupiter’s(or any other planets) orbit around the Sun. They’ve been hanging out there for billions of years, which makes them the solar system’s equivalent of an ancient time capsule.
And NASA’s LUCY is going to uncover the secrets these Trojans hold in them.
LUCY is set to visit seven Trojan asteroids over 12 years. Think of it as the ultimate space sightseeing tour, with stops at places with names like Eurybates, Orus, and Leucus(all Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids). For a 12 year space trip LUCY surely has a high-tech baggage of instruments to analyse asteroid surfaces, compositions, cameras, spectrometers and even a thermal infrared imager - basically all the gear a top-notch asteroid explorer would need. Launched from Earth in October 2021 on the Atlas V rocket Lucy had its first asteroid encounter in 2023.
LUCY is a really important mission that could in future change how we look at our solar system.
Imagine being able to travel back in time to see how our solar system formed – pretty epic, right? That’s exactly what studying these asteroids will help scientists do. Scientists have observed that Trojan asteroids seem to have different compositions, which likely happened because they travelled from different parts of the Solar System. The diverse data they offer would help us unlock secrets to planetary evolution. It is this type of data that will be collected by LUCY which could answer some big questions about our cosmic neighbourhood and maybe even the origins of life itself.
NASA’s LUCY mission is a stellar reminder that space exploration isn’t just about reaching for the stars; but also about uncovering the mysteries of the past to understand our place in the universe. So, the next time you look up at the night sky, think of LUCY and her incredible journey. She's out there, rocking through the cosmos, one asteroid at a time!
Meanwhile if you would like to know more about LUCY’s journey here is a series by NASA for the same -
The Series:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_8hVmWnP_O0NJF7vd2ASOsqiaFURif_Z&si=Z8PgiwwU62U2aViy
References:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lucy/